(FEB 23) Joseph Parker vs. Junior Fa is just a few days away and already we are expecting one of the best fight cards in New Zealand history with an all New Zealand card. One of the fights we like to highlight is the women’s heavyweight boxing fight between Alrie Meleisea vs Lani Daniels.

The fight itself was originally planned to be for a major World title, unfortunately, the funds for the sanctioning fees were not able to be put together. Then it was going to be for the Intercontinental title with IBO, however, some people believed IBO still not a credible sanctioning body. The fight was changed to a WBC OPBF title fight, but there was some drama about David Craig Pro Box NZ referee trying to get involved in this NZPBA show. Now, this fight is just for a vacant NZPBA National Heavyweight title. Unfortunately, boxing politics and egos have kind of ruined a perfect opportunity for these amazing boxers.


This is one of the biggest New Zealand women’s fights I believe since Geovana Peres vs Lani Daniels. We had Alrie Meleisea who is ranked 2nd in WBA, 3rd in Boxrec and 8th in WBC. We have Lani Daniels who is ranked 1st in Boxrec and 8th in WBA. Lani Daniels is a former NZPBA Light Heavyweight and former Pro Box NZ Super Middleweight champion. On top of that, she is a former world title contender. And before even being a professional boxer she was a multiple New Zealand national amateur champion. Alrie Meleisea is a former NZPBA and UBF Asia Pacific heavyweight champion. She has not fought for a world title and does not have amateur boxing experience, but, she has had some MMA fights.


Alrie Melesiea started her professional boxing career in 2016 where she took on Nailini Helu at less then weeks notice. She shocked the women’s division by winning the fight by split decision. The following week she went on to Kirsty Lupeamanu and won that fight by unanimous decision. This was a big shock as she took down two New Zealand professional boxers with no amateur boxing experience and both of those boxers were ranked in the top 8 in the world. Alrie went on to face Nailini again for both the NZPBA and UBF Asia Pacific titles, winning by split decision. Alrie went on to defend her NZPBA title against Sarah Long successfully in a very close unanimous decision win. However, Alrie took some time off to deal with some family tragedies. Alrie dropped the title which would end up being around Sarah Longs waist. Alrie would fight Sarah Long again which ended in a Split Decision Draw. After a win against Ashley Campbell, Alrie found herself back on top of the rankings and remains undefeated with 1 draw.


Lani Daniels began her pro career in 2017 where she took on Trish Vaka twice, winning both times. The first time was 4 rounder and the second time an 8 rounder for the NZPBA Light Heavyweight title. Lani suffered her first loss against Geovana Peres. Lani went on to defend her NZPBA Light Heavyweight title against Nailini Helu, winning by Unanimous Decision, and then winning the Pro Box NZ Super Middleweight title against a young Tessa Tualevao. Lani went on to fight Geovana Peres for the WBO world light heavyweight title, however, Geovana Peres came on top as the winner. Lani came back to fight Tessa Tualevao twice with both fights ending by a draw.


Due to Covid, both boxers have had 2020 off. Breaking it down both boxers have strengths and weaknesses. Alrie Meleisea strength is that she has always fought in the heavyweight division and has a lot of power. Lani Daniels strength is that she has a lot more experience then Alrie with not only fighting more fights and more rounds but also the amateur background as well. But with that in mind Alrie hasn’t had as much experience as Lani but on top of that Lani has always been the lighter boxer. This will all come down to how much fitness each boxer has on the day. As we have Alrie power vs Lani pure boxing skill.

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